Quote
SteveLpool
But I found that the longer I studied a detail I discovered flaws or inconsistencies which brought me to the conclusion that my first analysis was coloured by my initial enthusiasm which, in turn, distorted my ability to think critically.
For me there was far too much belief and trust taking place within the students towards the teachers and not enough critical thinking. It was my refusal to suspend my disbelief that eventually led them to tell me to take my practice somewhere else.
Steve
Hi, Gang, I'm new to this discussion. I have no past or present association with DWB; I'm participating on RR after doing a lot of research about abuses in Tibetan Buddhism of various sorts. One thing that became clear early on is precisely this tendency of students to place total trust in the teachers that SteveLpool mentions. I'm like Steve; I always observed the teachers--they have to earn my trust, they don't get it automatically--and I never saw or met one that practiced what he preached. Never saw any compassion or loving-kindness. Plus, more often than not I'd have to quit due to unwanted inappropriate attention from the lamas. But isn't it strange that it's Steve's refusal to suspend disbelief that got him on the outs with the sangha? The Dalai Lama and other authorities on the Tibetan side say you should spend years checking out your teacher before handing over your trust. So if sangha members disapprove of the recommended strategy, that's a big red flag right there, IMO.
One thing that got my attention in this discussion is mention of Shamar Rinpoche. I found his statements about Nydahl and the introduction of tantric sex to the West, which happened at Nydahl's invitation to Kalu Rinpoche and the 16th Karmapa, he says, and also his statements about his new Bodhi Path Centers, to be quite interesting. Shamar says that tantric sex was "very popular" in the West, but he feels it was misused, stripped of the spiritual component, by Westerners. (Funny, neither I, nor anyone I've known, including sanghas full of practitioners, had ever heard of it until scandal stories began to surface on the internet.) A bit oddly, he says nothing about abuses by Eastern teachers.
But he has decided that current conditions in the world are not conducive to teaching Vajrayana, and so he has set up these Bodhi Path Centers where no Vajrayana will be taught, except for the occasional Chenrezig or Medicine Buddha empowerment, harmless stuff. This intrigues me tremendously. Shamar is the only figure in Tibetan Buddhism who seems to be taking some responsibility for the problems caused by misuse or misinterpretation of the tradition. I have to respect that, even if he does so for the wrong reasons. At least somebody is trying to do something positive, and admits there have been problems in the past. I think the only way to rescue Tibetan Buddhism's tarnished image (if it's rescue-able) is precisely by the means Shamar has taken: opening centers where there's a strict "hands off" policy for teachers towards students, and where just basic Buddhism and the Bodhisattva way are taught. That's all anyone I ever knew expected from TB.
What do the rest of you think of this? I think it's a step in the right direction. And I noticed someone here said they'd like to have a chance to invite Shamar to set up Bodhi Path Centers in the UK. I think Shamar gives his email address on his website, www.shamarpa.org You can contact him directly. I'd be interested in attending one of his centers, too, but there are only 1 or 2 in all the US. Too bad Shamar has acquired a bit of a bad reputation as a result of the Karmapa controversy.